This is the second time I come to Portugal 4 years after the first visit and as I often do when I go back to one place, I was intended to visit the part of the country I could not do the previous time. I started where I ended last: Lisbon. The official reason was to attend a music festival (Nos Alive), the real reason was to see the most of the country in the least amount of time because sadly having a full time job requires travellers to be concise with the time they have at disposal.
A little football break here: by the time I was in Lisbon, Portugal had the chance to play the final of the Euro Cup and to be european Champion for the first time in its history. The game went very well, since Portugal managed to win the game for 1-0 despite its best player being injured, and the city went obviously mad and that evening walking around the center between people celebrating left a vivid mark in my memory.
After Lisbon I went up on the country travelling by bus to Berlengas Islands, Leiria, Coimbra and Oporto. Berlengas Islands are reachable through a short ferry ride from Peniche. The Berlengas are a small archipelago of islands, mostly inhabited except for some brave people who are willing to camp there on a casual base and the silence that surrounds those islands mixed with the scream of seagulls and the noise of the ocean, makes an incredible soundscape for those who are willing to visit one of the most western point of Europe. Luckily I am not particularly concerned about waves in general because that short searide was definitely the roughest I have ever had. The boat was literally shaking its journey across the ocean and I could see people falling off from their seats.
Oporto is the best city in the country that I have seen so far. The city lies on the mouth of the Douro river. The whole Douro valley is mostly famous for the production of a sweet fortified red wine called Porto that of course must be tried once in the region atleast. Being in Portugal in general, at the very end of the continent looking at the ocean, made me sense the Americas somehow, a chapter of my life that was still unknown back those days.
A special mention for the one I consider my favourite portuguese band, the Dead Combo. It consists of a guitar duo who plays mostly instrumental songs, creating an incredible cinematographic and underground mood to associate to the backstreet of Lisbon by night while you are there wandering around and looking for the best place for Fado.
**Jimmy Hendrix, Are you experienced// Dead Combo, Lisboa Mulata**